Monday, February 11, 2013

Mini Mystery Monday, A February Valentine, pt. 1

Here's a little ornament that can be stitched quickly (there will only be two parts to this design) so you can have it finished by next week -- easy peasy!

You'll need just a few threads:
- a variegated Watercolours thread (pick something valentiney);
- a #5 pearl cotton solid color that is dark (for the borders);
- two #5 pearl cotton solid colors that are accent colors - one medium and one light;
- a metallic thread that matches the medium accent color (it can be a ribbon metallic like Ribbon Floss, Neon Rays+, Kreinik 1/16th Ribbon or a braid like Kreinik #8 Braid);
- an 8" x 8" piece of canvas - white, eggshell, or any other color you want to play with (you'll see some of the background when you're done stitching).

Here's the beginning graph to follow, and again, it's a quarter graph so you can stitch the first quadrant, as shown below, and then turn the graph around to stitch each of the remaining quadrants.

To start stitching, make a hole in the center of your canvas, and then count up 20 threads, to stitch the first diagonal row of triangles (shown in red). Once you have that first row in place, you can use it to stitch the remaining rows on the graph.

It's much easier to get that first row of triangles in place BEFORE STITCHING THE CENTER EYELET FAN. Trust me, you want to leave that big center eyelet diamond until LAST.... it's much easier to fill it in AFTER the other rows are in place. If you want, wait until next week, when the rest of the graph will appear, and you can stitch everything else, before finishing with the center space.

An by the way, when you do stitch the eyelet, place all your stitches going DOWN into the center hole (which you should enlarge as much as possible, because there are going to be a LOT of threads going down into the hole - this graph just shows the first layer!) And your first stitch should be the VERTICAL ONE. Then go in every other hole. All the way around the diamond-shaped center.

Well, go run and get some threads and a piece of canvas.... you'll have this one done in no time at all! See you next Monday....